
Sara Blakely
entrepreneur
If Sara Blakely had given up on SPANX when she heard her first, "No," she never would have hit all the first "Yes!"-es ever since—products in upscale department stores, a "Yes!" from Oprah, youngest female self-made billionaire, sales in more than 50 countries and a chain of standalone stores, a foundation, the first woman to sign the Giving Pledge—ensuring many more female entrepreneurs hear "Yes!" instead of "No."
She knew—better than the male-dominated hosiery industry—there was a need and how to meet it. In the nearly 2 decades since she first cut the feet off a pair of pantyhose, she's defined and redefined shapewear, with no signs of stopping. But she's helping other women all along the way.
SPANX | a cut-up pair of pantyhose became a clothing empire worth $1.1 billion—with a mere $5,000 of Sara's savings {and lots of hard work}
down-to-earth {+ often earthy} self promotion | flashing her derrière—and being flashed by others whenever she's recognized. Punny product names. Years on the road personally shilling SPANX—rearranging store displays + conducting impromptu product demonstrations. Willing to do it all.
philanthropy | more than $17 million given away, once surprising Oprah Winfrey with a $1 million check to her foundation.
~ the Sara Blakely Foundation funds and educates female entrepreneurs worldwide ~ the Leg-Up program provides free promotion to female entrepreneurs ~ first female to join Giving Pledge in 2013, promising to give away at least half her fortune ~
1998 | cut the feet of her first pair of pantyhose, in the search for the perfect underwear to pair with white pants. Patented Footless Body-Shaping Pantyhose and began to develop the product that would become one of Oprah's "Favorite Things" and hit upscale department stores a mere 2 years later.
2006 | launched Sara Blakely Foundation, with help from Virgin mogul Richard Branson {she came in second on his TV show "The Rebel Billionaire"}
2012 | became the youngest self-made female billionaire at 41
from | to
door-to-door fax machine salesperson/aspiring stand-up comedian | billionaire
born on
february 27, 1971
born in
Clearwater, Fla.
birth name
Sara Blakely
citizen of
United States of America
daughter of
Ellen Ford and John Blakely
~artist and a personal injury lawyer~
sister of
Ford {brother}
grew up in | lives in
Clearwater, Fla. | Atlanta
educated at | studied with
Florida State University | legal communications
married to
Jesse Itzler
mother of
son, Lazer
advocate for | influenced by
funding female entrepreneurs | motivational speaker Wayne Dyer, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey
in her spare time
"I recreationally think." [1]
tweets
@spanxinc
sources
[1] Q&A | Sara Blakely on Resilience | Entreprenur.com | march 21, 2011
collapse bio bits
"I never dreamed visible panty lines and uncomfortable thongs would inspire me to become an inventor."
SPANX | ca. 2010
"You have to develop a sense of humor if you’re in a beach town with no boobs."
The New Yorker | march 2011
"Ideas are the most vulnerable in the moment that you first have them."
Inc. Women’s Summit | december 2011
"You think when you get the big order, ‘That’s the moment.’ That’s just the moment you gotta work extra hard."
Inc. Women’s Summit | december 2011
"The thought of my mortality—I think about it a lot. I find it motivating. It can be any time that your number’s up."
Forbes | march 2012
"People have million-dollar and billion-dollar ideas daily. And you have to trust your gut—go for it."
SPANX entrepreneur shares advice | march 2012
"Embrace what you don’t know, especially in the beginning, because what you don’t know will become your greatest asset."
Spanx Creator’s Tips for Future Billionaires | march 2012
"My father used to encourage me and my brother to fail...It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying. Don’t be afraid to fail."
Women in the World Summit | april 2013
"I have so much gratitude for being a woman in America. I wouldn’t have had these opportunities if I wasn’t born in the right place at the right time."
Forbes | may 2013
"I am committed to the belief that we would all be in a much better place if half the human race (women) were empowered to prosper, invent, be educated, start their own businesses, run for office–essentially be given the chance to soar!"
The Giving Pledge | may 2013
"Since I was a little girl I have always known I would help women. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would have started with their butts."
The Giving Pledge | may 2013
"While many of the world’s natural resources are being depleted, one is waiting to be unleashed—women."
The Giving Pledge | may 2013
"If the universe gave me the idea, I would take it and run with it and create it on my own and sell it, because I knew I could sell fax machines. I didn't really like fax machines or, half the time, understand them. But if I could come up with that idea that I was excited about, then I would not waste it."
Sara Blakely, Spanx and the American Dream | august 2013
"I was actually eager to hire my weaknesses."
Billionaire Sara Blakely says secret to success is failure | october 2013
for further reading about Sara Blakely:
curated with care by Meghan Miller Brawley {august 2014}
company | SPANX
With 2 snips of her scissors, Sara forever answered the question, "What do I wear under white pants?" {Also, "How do I make my butt look good?" and "How can I hide my tummy?" and "How can I look like I've lost 10 pounds?" and more}. The patent lawyer she consulted thought her idea was so crazy, she must be from Candid Camera. The male hosiery mill owners all turned her down, until one finally ran the idea past his daughters. But she kept trying, and today, SPANX and Sara are worth $1.1 billion.
SPANX
video | Retail Store Opening | SPANX.com
Sara announces the opening of the first standalone retail store {in Tyson's Corner, Va}. It's 12 years after she hopped on a plane from Atlanta to Dallas with her lucky red backpack, dragged the Neiman Marcus buyer into the restroom to demonstrate SPANX in action—and landed the account. Sara paid friends to buy SPANX and snuck into department stores to rearrange displays {sometimes setting up her own} to increase visibility and bring SPANX out of the hosiery aisle and into every woman's closet. for more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/spanx-opens-first-retail-store-in-tysons-corner/2012/11/02/c295765e-238f-11e2-8448-81b1ce7d6978_story.html
SPANX
magazine | FORBES
In March 2012, Sara landed on the cover of Forbes. It wasn't her first magazine story, but it was a big first—she's the youngest self-made female entrepreneur. She was 41. A year later, she signed Bill and Melinda Gates' and Warren Buffet's Giving Pledge, vowing to give at least half her wealth to charity. Helping others is something she'd already been doing, from starting the Sara Blakely Foundation in 2006 to funding female entrepreneurship and education, to the Leg-Up program promoting women-owned businesses in the SPANX catalog, and now she just has a lot more to give.
Forbes